eating potatoes in london: Day 64

NUS London Exchangers (Can I shorten it to Lonchangers?) met up today for our 2nd musical outing. This time, to watch one of the longest running musicals in London - Les Misérables. From what I understand, it has been running since 1980s, and at the rate it's going, it will usurp "CATS" as the longest running musical in London.

When I was a kid, I used to pronounce it as LESS Mi-SE-rable, when it is actually pronounced as LES Mi-ZE-Rah. Pardon my french then. Didn't know much about Les Misérables, but I remember it being quite a hype in Singapore when they brought it there quite a few years ago. The Lonchangers were talking about it, how it created a buzz as there were auditioning for a Singaporean Corsette. Suddenly, "Castle in the Cloud" was played everywhere.

Anyway, there were only 4 of us. Heather fell ill, and Esther has watched it before with her boyfriend. We were a little late, so we had to be separated in our seating.

The iconic emblem of the musical - an illustration of Corsette taken from the book. The theatre screams "Les Mis" across the whole of Shaftesbury Avenue.

that's one miserable traffic light......

Only a student - Stall seats for £27.50

Need a binoculars?

Yes, our bags were checked for security. We were wondering if it is standard practice, or implemented recently because of what happened in Belfast.

The cast list.

What can I say?

No wonder it's a classic. It's like climax after climax, with memorable, haunting and earth-shaking songs. But it got a little draggy towards the end though.

I love the stage management. Basically there is a circle in the middle of stage that acts like a Lazy Susan. So the characters can just walk on the circles and the set will be slowly turned in or turned pass to give the impression that the character has walked quite a distance. It is also the "Lazy Susan" that allowed quick set changes (with the aid of lighting), and allow you to see both sides of the barrier when it was raised.